After Elise brought Sylvia back to her dormitory at Queenvail Girls' Academy, she quietly left without a sound.
However, after everything that had happened this time, her heart could no longer remain calm.
Sylvia had truly sacrificed far too much for her. If Elise gave nothing in return, she would feel terrible about it.
Although Elise couldn't accept Sylvia's love, she could still help her in other ways.
Elise still remembered something Sylvia had once said during one of their conversations.
"Singing? I wouldn't say I love it that much."
"The reason I debuted was because I wanted to find my teacher, Ursula, and also let more people hear my voice."
Sylvia was very straightforward. She had chosen to become a celebrity not for money or status, but to search for someone dear to her. Letting more people hear her singing had only been a secondary benefit.
And Sylvia had also told Elise before that she had long since thought about retiring.
Because once she retired, she would be able to focus entirely on doing what she wanted without being disturbed by the public.
But wanting to retire was one thing. Actually doing it was nowhere near that easy.
Sylvia's fame was simply too great. She had fans all across the world. If she suddenly retired, it would definitely cause trouble for Queenvail Girls' Academy behind her, and even for W&W.
If the other Foundations took the opportunity to stir up trouble, the consequences would be impossible to predict.
That was why Sylvia couldn't retire, and the Foundation backing her wouldn't allow her to do so easily either.
If Sylvia wanted to retire, then someone capable of taking her place would first have to appear. In other words, she needed a successor.
In the original story, Sylvia did indeed have a successor candidate, Chloe, a teammate of the spin-off protagonist Minato Wakamiya. But realistically speaking, Chloe obviously couldn't truly replace Sylvia.
And so, Elise decided to start from this angle.
If there was no one in the world truly capable of inheriting Sylvia's position, then Elise would simply provide one herself!
Of course, by "taking Sylvia's place," Elise didn't mean that she herself would become a world-famous singer. She meant that someone she created would inherit that position.
Rather than relying on outsiders of uncertain ability, Elise might as well directly create a fully formed idol.
Someone born with peerless beauty and already possessing highly polished idol skills.
Elise had already experimented with this in the world of High School DxD, where she had created numerous angels with extraordinarily high potential.
She had never made a human before, but the difference shouldn't be that great, right?
The angels of the High School DxD world were humanoid, after all. They merely had a few more wings than humans.
Unlike the angels of certain worlds, which were basically just horrifying masses of eyes. Those were far too unsettling to even look at.
"So, what kind of person should I make?"
Elise had an idea. She couldn't respond to Sylvia's feelings, but she could use this newly created human as a symbol.
Creating someone completely original would be too troublesome. It would be much easier to directly borrow a template from anime.
She had done the same thing when creating angels. Metatron had been modeled after Elise herself, while Gabriel had been modeled after a character from Gabriel DropOut.
Every angel she had created had some recognizable origin.
"But since she's meant to succeed Sylvia, I should naturally choose someone from among singers."
There were countless options. Virtual singers like Hatsune Miku, Kagamine Rin, and Megurine Luka, or anime characters such as Inori Yuzuriha, Setsuna, and Miku. There were so many that counting them all would be impossible.
But considering Elise's relationship with Sylvia, she decided to use that particular name...
Ai Hoshino!
The name itself carried a special meaning. In Japanese, the surname Hoshino could be interpreted as sounding like "wanting" or "wishing to possess," so the name Ai Hoshino could also be understood as "wanting to possess love." That happened to align rather well with Sylvia's feelings toward Elise.
And so, sacred radiance began gathering in Elise's hands. To prevent anyone outside from noticing the commotion caused by her act of creation, Elise directly entered the small world she had made, completely isolating herself from Asterisk before beginning the work of creating an idol.
Because she already had experience creating angels, Elise was far more skilled than before.
Making a human with special talents wouldn't even take an hour at most.
Ai Hoshino's appearance was exceptionally striking, so sculpting it wasn't difficult.
Elise didn't know her exact body measurements, but judging by the anime opening, they were definitely top-tier as well.
After all, she had been capable of becoming a mother. She certainly wouldn't have let her children go hungry.
But none of that was the most important part. Asterisk was, after all, a near-future world of technology and supernatural abilities.
This was the domain of the Starpulse Generation, and all female students admitted to Queenvail were members of the Starpulse Generation.
So the Ai Hoshino Elise created had to belong to the Starpulse Generation as well. Ideally, she should even be a Strega with a special ability.
But...
What kind of ability would suit her?
As the God of the Bible, Elise possessed an unimaginably vast power of creation.
As long as the ability wasn't absurdly overpowered, she could basically reproduce it.
"It should still be something powerful..."
Why was Sylvia a world-class superstar?
Because she had pushed every aspect of herself to the extreme!
Excellent grades, a good personality, outstanding beauty, extraordinary talent, overwhelming strength. In all of Queenvail's history, there had never been another idol quite as idol-like as Sylvia.
If Elise wanted to create someone capable of matching that, she would have to find a different approach.
"Ai Hoshino..."
"Wanting love..."
"Love?"
Suddenly, inspiration flashed through Elise's mind, and a slightly excessive idea appeared in her head.
"This ability... shouldn't be too outrageous, right?"
"I don't even know if I can actually create it, but what if I can?"
Elise looked at Ai Hoshino's completed body floating before her and murmured softly.
"An idol with outstanding beauty and extraordinary talent... If she had this ability too, she'd definitely become a world-class idol, right?"
She might even surpass Sylvia...
What should she do? Make it, or not?
Elise gritted her teeth.
She would do it!
Wasn't Sylvia hoping for someone who could replace her, or even surpass her?
Then Elise would fulfill that wish in the name of God!
Elise took a deep breath. The power of faith gathered in her hand and gradually condensed into a pink sphere.
Its mere existence was enough to draw the eye, and on top of that, it radiated an overwhelmingly terrifying fluctuation!
"From today onward, your name will be Ai Hoshino."
"Your mission is to become the number-one songstress in the world and let everyone in this world experience love!"
The breathtakingly beautiful girl floating in the air slowly opened her eyes. Although there was still some confusion in them at first, she quickly sorted through the memories in her mind and understood why she had been born.
Her gaze gradually lifted toward the woman bathed in radiance before her, a woman who seemed almost like her mother, and a blissful smile blossomed across her face.
...
Queenvail Girls' Academy.
Although this was an academy dedicated to cultivating stars and used special methods to educate its students, it was still a school in the end. Its daily schedule might differ somewhat from an ordinary academy, but not by much.
"Today, I'm going to introduce a new classmate to everyone!"
"Come in, Hoshino!"
Inside a certain classroom, the students had originally been making a fair amount of noise, but the moment the teacher arrived, the room instantly fell silent.
At first, the students hadn't paid much attention to what the teacher was saying, but this time, every one of them turned to look.
The reason was simple. The teacher had mentioned a new student!
Asterisk was no ordinary place. Aside from students enrolling during the standard admission season, transfer students were extremely rare.
Of course, rare didn't mean nonexistent.
And anyone capable of transferring into Asterisk was at least someone whose abilities had been acknowledged by the people above.
The students who knew this immediately became interested, eagerly wondering what kind of person the transfer student would be.
Soon, a beautiful figure walked in through the classroom door, instantly attracting the attention of every student present. Even the girl seated in the second-to-last row by the window looked over.
She's so beautiful!
That was the thought shared by countless people in the room. The girl truly was almost excessively beautiful.
In other words, judging by appearance alone, she absolutely had what it took to become an idol!
"My name is Ai Hoshino. I'm very happy that I'll be learning how to become an idol together with all of you from now on!"
The girl's voice was sweet and pleasant. With only a single sentence, it seemed to slip straight into the students' hearts, making her extremely easy to like.
No one noticed that with just one line, the girl had already successfully won over everyone around her.
"This is Ai Hoshino, who transferred here from outside Asterisk. I want everyone to get along with her from now on!"
The teacher's words formally announced that the girl had successfully joined their class.
During the break.
"Hello, Hoshino!"
Countless students gathered around Ai Hoshino and greeted her warmly.
This was actually perfectly normal. As mentioned before, anyone capable of transferring into Asterisk outside the standard enrollment period was no ordinary member of the Starpulse Generation.
In the original story, Ayato Amagiri had been able to transfer in because Claudia, the student council president of Seidoukan Academy, had manipulated things behind the scenes.
But the current Ayato had transferred through legitimate channels, so his relationship with Claudia wasn't particularly deep. At least on the surface, the two of them didn't interact very much.
Queenvail was a little different. To transfer into an academy like this, one either had to possess an enormous background or outstanding talent.
That was why these students had come over to greet Ai Hoshino, hoping to uncover some hidden information.
If possible, they could also build a relationship with her. If they became closer to her, it might even benefit their own future development.
Of course, that depended on whether Ai Hoshino truly had a powerful background. If she didn't, then the number of people coming to find her in the future would definitely decrease.
But for now, they might as well chat!
Ai clearly saw through their little thoughts, but she still spoke enthusiastically with everyone. From the way she talked, the surrounding students gradually learned several surprising things.
"No way?"
One girl looked astonished after hearing what Ai had said.
"The director personally brought you in?"
Director Petra had discovered Sylvia and the band Rusalka, and she was also their manager.
Because of Queenvail's system, Sylvia, as a world-famous singer, often held concerts on global tours. Therefore, the person who actually carried out the responsibilities of student council president was their manager, Petra.
In other words, as long as the Foundation didn't interfere, Petra held the greatest authority in the academy. Even outside the city, she was still an executive of the Foundation and possessed considerable influence.
They had actually run into someone with such an impressive connection?
"And Hoshino, your goal is Sylvia too?"
Too?
Ai narrowed her eyes slightly, but quickly returned to her bright smile.
"Of course. Everyone here has heard Miss Sylvia's songs before. Naturally, we'd all want to become dazzling stars like her, right?"
The moment Sylvia's name was mentioned, quite a few people visibly reacted. Ai had clearly struck the mark.
Ever since Sylvia became a global superstar, Queenvail's student population had multiplied several times over. Although some students genuinely wanted to become stars for their own reasons, there were far fewer of them than those who admired Sylvia.
"We're all aiming for Miss Sylvia, so let's get along well!"
However, while Ai was chatting with the other girls, another voice suddenly came from behind them.
"As I thought. I wasn't mistaken."
When they turned around, it was the student seated in the second-to-last row by the window. She was walking toward them with an excited expression.
"My name is Minato, Minato Wakamiya!"
"I'm your classmate!"
The moment she heard that name, Ai reacted slightly, and the way she looked at Minato changed.
So it's her?
As a human Elise had created in this world, Ai Hoshino had been entrusted with several great missions.
The first was to replace Sylvia, become a world-class songstress, and let the people of the world experience love.
The second was to spread the faith. After all, this was an academy for stars. Even though they were still just students, if they truly developed even a trace of faith, the quality of that faith would definitely exceed that of ordinary people outside.
The third point was also rather important.
Just like A Certain Magical Index, The Asterisk War had its own spin-off.
The spin-off of A Certain Magical Index was A Certain Scientific Railgun, while the spin-off of The Asterisk War was The Wings of Queenvail. In other words, it was a story taking place inside Queenvail Girls' Academy.
It allowed readers to understand this secret garden in greater depth.
And the protagonist of that spin-off was the girl currently standing in front of Ai Hoshino...
Minato Wakamiya!
"Eh? What's wrong? Why is everyone looking at me like that?"
The expressions the surrounding students gave Minato were extremely subtle, practically screaming, Here she goes again.
Had something happened?
Ai Hoshino, who didn't know Minato very well, immediately became confused when she saw everyone's reactions.
Fortunately, another student soon leaned close to her ear and explained what had happened.
"That Wakamiya girl has some pretty serious problems too."
"If I remember correctly, she's already lost more than thirty matches since enrolling here?"
She had never won even once, only to eventually meet the person who would change her fate and then soar to success...
Wasn't that practically the textbook protagonist template?